The Firebird Ballet & Short Works

Article |
May 15, 2014 - 7:37am

VAA Center for Dance flies into spring this season with a celebration of dance and tradition. Dancers step back into the Great Hall of the O Space with a production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird ballet, created in 1910 for the Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The story is based on Russian folk tales of a glowing, magical bird that can be both a blessing and a curse to its owner. Intermediate and advanced dancers bring to life Michael Fokine’s adapted choreography about the Firebird, the mythical creature that entrances Prince Ivan, convincing him to free her from captivity.

This is the 18th VAA spring ballet for Christine Juarez, Director of VAA Center for Dance. Juarez adapts and creates original choreography each season for the student body based on the historical romantic ballets. This year, Firebird was selected specifically with two graduating seniors in mind: Meg Sayre, graduating from Vashon High School, and Sam Opsal, guest dancer, who graduates from Cornish College of the Arts. These two dancers have collaborated wonderfully for years and both leave the Island to welcome their futures within the next couple of months.

“Meg has been a dream to work with and I picked this part for her because she embodies the Firebird. She is full of life, quick to act and think and ready to embrace her freedom and change the world. Sam is the passionate partner who has chosen dance as his life. He has been incredibly supportive to our dancers and has served as an exemplary role model,” says Juarez.

As part of this evening program, Creative Movement dancers (2-4 years old) will march and tip-toe to a narrated dance created by Juarez titled The Fairies and the Dragon. Pre-Ballet dancers will chasse and skip in a one-act ballet There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe danced to music by Edvard Grieg. Dancers from the Center for Dance’s Tap classes also perform. Costumes by Kate Guinee, lighting by Stan Voynick and lobby design by Holly Goddard.